The Bride: An Age-Gap, Marriage of Convenience Romance

Chapter One

Chapter One

     I dotted the i in my last name with a heart, comically, as I signed off on this month's check for rent. Our small apartment was barely running on electricity, the landlord pounding on our door every day now screaming about how we weren't keeping up with our utility bills. I grimaced as I shoved the three hundred dollar and some change check into an envelope, before sealing it up. My bank account would surely be left with about ten dollars after tonight, and I sent up a prayer that this check wouldn't bounce again. We didn't have internet connection for me to log on to my beaten, ancient laptop to check my virtual wallet on the bank's website, so I would have to go off of my memory.

     Licking the envelope closed, I went to stand up, only to be met with a short spell of dizziness that I had to wait out until it subsided. I mentally cataloged how long it had been since lunch, but I hadn't had lunch. I was running on saltine crackers and whatever squeeze cheese I found in the back of the pantry. Of course, my mother wouldn't be hungry. Drugs tended to curb an appetite, or rather cure it in her case.

     "Mom! I'll be back at nine!" I shouted down the hall to where her bedroom door was cracked open, the sound of the television barely audible in the background. I waited a few seconds to see if I would get a response before I grabbed my backpack, keys and the sealed envelope. Locking up behind me, I bounded down the outside set of stairs, careful to miss any slippery patches that had formed during our frosty overnight. I stopped at the landlord's office, slipping the envelope underneath the door and started my fifteen-minute walk to the animal shelter I was currently working full-time at.

     "Why, isn't it my little piece of heaven?" Nicole beamed at me when I walked into the shelter. Her light purple hair was pulled up into a messy bun, our signature dog treat bandana sitting on the crown of her head. The smell of wet dog, stale kibble and unchanged potty pads assaulted my nostrils. I don't care what anyone said, the longer you worked here the smell got worse, not better. I suppressed a gag and hugged Nicole, who had dropped the genuine smile and was now frowning down at me.

     "What's up?" I asked, "Why the face?" I pulled out of the hug and gestured in a circle around her facial expressions.

     She sighed, going over to the check-in desk and taking the rag she discarded on the top of the counter. I watched as she rubbed one, two, three times in the same spot before she met my eyes with a solemn look.

     "I hate to be the bearer of bad news sweetheart, but the shelter's closin' down." My heart dropped, my mouth popped open and my stomach was actually on the floor. The shelter, my only means of keeping my mother and I alive for the past year and a half was closing down? I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing but a disgruntled sound came out.

     "I know Naveah, I know. You bet your ass I'm pissed. I'm pissed for you." She continued to rub the counter with the rag, shaking her head in anger. "Somethin' about some hot-shot lawyer servin' us a big city lawsuit, claiming that we were inhumanely killing animals. It was either pay the five hundred thousand dollars fine or shut down." She peered at me through the top of her classes with a snarl, "And you know Joel just doesn't have that kind of money."

     I nodded, automatically I think, before blindly walking past her to head into the door labeled Employees Only. One hand on the door, I looked at her over my shoulder.

     "How long?" I tried to keep my voice stable, but it wavered with emotion.

     With her back still turned to me, Nicole stopped wiping the counter. Her shoulders visibly sagged as she answers; "Today's our last day. Joel just sent out the social media posts."